Friday, July 13, 2018

LRT3 savings: Proof that Guan Eng is not from this planet

My heading should actually read "Yet another proof that Guan Eng is not from this planet".

After raising Malaysia's national debt to RM1.1 trillion from RM700 billion just days after being made the Finance Minister, which was the first sign that he was not from here, Guan Eng has now "saved" billions and billions of ringgit for the taxpayers by slashing the cost of the LRT3 from RM31.6 billion to RM16.6 billion.

That's 47% savings, he screamed.

I wonder if someone has told him that he was just crapping on Malaysians again.

It would have been a savings IF the the LRT3 project's specs had remained unchanged (or have somehow improved). But in this case, the project's specs have been downscaled, and by a great deal, too!

The facts:

+ Instead of 44 sets of trains with 6 cars each, the project will now be getting only 22 sets of trains with 3 cars each;

+ Lim will also shelve five stations to "save" costs and this means taxpayers around Lien Hoe, Temasya, Sirim, Bukit Raja and Bandar Botani will have to travel farther to the nearest LRT stations;

+ We taxpayers will also not get the 2-kilometre tunnel together with an underground station at Persiaran Hishamuddin, Shah Alam;

+ And, Einstein, because there will be fewer trains, the size of the depot will also be smaller lah; and

+ Istead of 2020, the new date of completion will be 2024.

So, still think those are "savings" for taxpayers? Uneducated taxpayers (and those from Lim's planet) may rejoice. But the truth is, this is not about savings at all. This is about scaling down the LRT3 project. A project meant to overcome transport woes of ordinary, hardworking and hard-pressed Malaysians has jsut been downgraded!

9 comments:

So according to this young rotten "ciku" "taxpayer" money used for this project only collected from those resided in Kuala Lumpur and the down skill of this project has effected some of those "taxpayer" ? - What a genius Young and Rotten "Ciku" he is !

dear rocky,let say u normally spend 500 bucks on groceries. but due to certain debts u need one third of that amount saved this month. so on your next groceries shopping, you need to make some savings.

u buy local toothpastes instead of the american one, u buy less juices n decided to drink more mineral water. you purchase less snacks n tit bits and decide to eat healthier food. instead of the better packaging or higher quality toilet paper and kitchen towels, you buy the generic ones. you buy 1/3 less products of certain items cause u think you ll makecsome savings. and instrad of shopping at nearby cold storage, you shop at tesco which is further away but cheaper.

As an LRT, Monorail and MRT rider, I regard this as a cheap stunt on the part of the Finance Minister to look good by cutting corners.

Transportation is a public service and facility, which often is not profitable and has to be subsidised by the government in return for the economic benefits it brings to the areas it serves.

SS15 Subang Jaya, the first phase of Subang Jaya completed in the 1970s, had become rather visibly run down until the Kelana Jaya LRT line extension to Putra Heights was operational, with an SS15 LRT station just beside the new big RAJ's Restaurant and SS15 is now visibly reviving.

Besides that is the convenience it provides residents of Subang Jaya, who have been plagued by horrendous traffic jams in the area at peak periods.

There was a time when I had to go to USJ21 for a meeting about once a month and instead of driving along the congested Federal Highway and having to find parking in that busy area, I took the newly opened LRT extension to USJ21 station and it was a breeze.

At first, there were relatively few passengers on the LRT beyond Kelana Jaya station at around 3pm but the numbers visibly increased with each trip I made on the LRT beyond Kelana Jaya station.

It takes time for people to get used to the benefits of using facilities such as LRT, BRT, Monorails or MRT and people who live and work along the LRT like up to Kelana Jaya station had long gotten used to riding on the LRT and it would take some time for people living along the line from Kelana Jaya to Putra Heights to get used to leaving their car at home and using the LRT.

Any concessions which could be made should be in reduction of ticket prices or more affordable package deals for weekly or monthly passes, in the provision of more park & ride facilities, in the provision of more feeder bus routes and more frequent feeder bus services serving areas around LRT, MRT and Monorail stations.

As for Subang Jaya, perhaps the construction of more local elevated BRT (bus rapid transit) or monorails between LRT stations and the rest of Subang Jaya would encourage more residents to use public transit.

Typical of an accountant that he is, our Finance Minister is great at cutting this and that expense but what policies for economic development and for boosting the economy does he have.

Experience from the business world often shows that once companies are put into the hands of accountants to run, these companies lose their innovative or creative edge and become run of the mill companies obsessed with the bottom line to please the shareholders.

The FBMKLCI has plunged since the Pakatan government took over, with the relative strength index (RSI) stuck below 30 (oversold) since mid-May and trending further downwards thereafter.

Throughout 2017, foreign funds were flowing into Bursa Malaysiahttps://www.malaysiastock.biz/Market-Statistic.aspx?m=2017

But over the past 8 weeks - I.E. since the Pakatan government took over, foreign funds have been flowing out of Bursa Malaysia. (These are weekly figures of nett outflow)https://www.malaysiastock.biz/Market-Statistic.aspx?m=w

And over the past seven days. (These are daily figures of net outflow)https://www.malaysiastock.biz/Market-Statistic.aspx?m=d

"Well done" YB Finance Minister.

Anyway, investments in stock markets are speculative in nature and are not productive investments, unlike investments in industry which provides jobs and produces marketable products which benefit the national economy.

The government wants to reduce cost and unnecessary spending during this difficult times and it does not mean savings. In any project there are 3 things that has to be manage to make a project successful; project scope, budget and schedule. Juggling the 3 items is not easy especially for big projects. Increase or decrease in scope will affect budget and schedule. Likewise changes to anyone item will affect the other items.Reviewing and Reducing project scope is not savings but making the project more viable for the public yet not burdening them in the future.

Dear Outsaid, what you said totally wrong in terms of saving. If you have 500 ringgit, you want to spent on groceries. Its not about cutting down the 1/3 of the item but you buy local brand with lesser price. You still get 100% of the item you want but cheaper brand. Understood.This call savings, example you want to buy 3 packs of 4kg detergent, normally you using dynamo, since you wanna saving, you only buy tesco brand which much cheaper and you will get 3 packs of 4kg also. Not buy tesco brand and 2 packs only, thats not saving bro in terms of business.

Like what guan oink said, totally reduce the scope of the project. Thats not saving, please learn business management back, this my advise.